The Next Frontier of the Flea Wars

[Lana & Yoyo]

I took Yoyo for acupuncture yesterday to see if that could help his flea allergy. http://www.animalfixer.com/ --- Yoyo did not mind the needles too much. He complained a couple of times when they went in. Trying to keep him still after they were in was quite another thing. Yoyo is usually pretty passive at the doctor's office, but he seemed to be in a really foul mood this trip.

Dr. Addleman turned out to be a board certified feline specialist veterinarian who is now an acupuncturist. She felt his abdomen and told me his liver is enlarged. Since his liver is enlarged, that may be a factor preventing or making it difficult for him to go into remission. I had asked all three vets Yoyo has seen in the past 6 months why he has a "beer belly," and they all just shrugged. Now I know why. She listened to his heart and said it did not sound quite normal. She wants him to have an utrasound.

She says inflammation severely aggravates diabetes. Infections and allergies cause inflammation. She says his teeth are a mess and he requires teeth cleaning and dental work. I had asked the vet I was going to last year to take a look at his teeth because I thought they needed to be cleaned. He said, "No rush. Get his diabetes under control first." She says he has an eye infection also that needs to be treated.

For the fleas, I need to get my house and yard fumigated. Although she doesn't think there are anymore fleas in my house and yard than the average person would have, Yoyo is like the one person in a group who gets attacked by mosquitoes while the rest get no bites at all. Since there is no such thing as a flea repellent contrary to the claims of some flea products, she wants me to give him Capstar every other day. If he has one flea in a 12 day period, it is enough to keep his flea allergy aggravated and his skin inflamed.

She gave me some herbal pills called "wind toxin" that are for allergies.

I have an appointment with the vet on Tuesday to discuss these recommendations. I go back for his next acupuncture treatment June 9th. I really am going to have to make Yoyo get a job!

Lana

 

[Kelly & Oscar]

Wow sounds like you have found a great person to go to! It always frustrates me when things like that get missed for so long (like the enlarged liver). Keep us posted!

 

[pamela and tigger]

I took Yoyo for acupuncture yesterday to see if that could help his flea allergy. http://www.animalfixer.com/ --- Yoyo did not mind the needles too much. He complained a couple of times when they went in. Trying to keep him still after they were in was quite another thing. Yoyo is usually pretty passive at the doctor's office, but he seemed to be in a really foul mood this trip.

Dr. Addleman turned out to be a board certified feline specialist veterinarian who is now an acupuncturist. She felt his abdomen and told me his liver is enlarged. Since his liver is enlarged, that may be a factor preventing or making it difficult for him to go into remission. I had asked all three vets Yoyo has seen in the past 6 months why he has a "beer belly," and they all just shrugged. Now I know why. She listened to his heart and said it did not sound quite normal. She wants him to have an utrasound.

She says inflammation severely aggravates diabetes. Infections and allergies cause inflammation. She says his teeth are a mess and he requires teeth cleaning and dental work. I had asked the vet I was going to last year to take a look at his teeth because I thought they needed to be cleaned. He said, "No rush. Get his diabetes under control first." She says he has an eye infection also that needs to be treated.

That is interesting that she changed her profession (of sorts). Good for her for catching the enlarged liver, which as I am sure you know, can be caused by a number of things. Besides an ultrasound, did she mention an x-ray too?

It always amazes me when vets say that about their teeth. Like the diabetes actually has a chance to get "under control" (whatever they mean by that) when their teeth are messed up. :YMSIGH:

For the fleas, I need to get my house and yard fumigated. Although she doesn't think there are anymore fleas in my house and yard than the average person would have, Yoyo is like the one person in a group who gets attacked by mosquitoes while the rest get no bites at all. Since there is no such thing as a flea repellent contrary to the claims of some flea products, she wants me to give him Capstar every other day. If he has one flea in a 12 day period, it is enough to keep his flea allergy aggravated and his skin inflamed.

The comments at Amazon.com regarding Capstar are interesting. I know you have given this to him before and I think you did mention about the crazy itching for a short period afterwards when the fleas react to it. That will be expensive though giving it every other day? It says there are only 6 tablets in a package. One person said she cuts the pills in half to make them last longer. I wonder if after a while you could do that too.

http://www.amazon.com/Novartis-Capstar-Flea-Treatment-Blue/dp/B00028ZLU4?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

She gave me some herbal pills called "wind toxin" that are for allergies.

I have an appointment with the vet on Tuesday to discuss these recommendations. I go back for his next acupuncture treatment June 9th. I really am going to have to make Yoyo get a job!

Lana

I know! Sometimes these cats cost us a lot of money, but we do what we can.

I am glad you found a good acupuncture vet. She sounds like a keeper, and as you know the acupuncture can only help with so many things besides the itching.

ETA about the eye infection. Curious about what did she think this was? Like what kind of infection from what?

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

This is awesome news, Lana! Definitely sounds like a keeper. The acupuncture vet I take Gandalf to is not a feline specialist, but she knows quite a bit besides the acupuncture and is very helpful and I really like that he sees someone every 2 weeks!

I wonder if he would benefit from Denamarin. It is Sam-E and milk thistle which are proven to help liver function. People even take it. Nutramax makes a version for cats and dogs. Gandalf's liver is an odd color on ultrasound, lighter than it should be I think they said, so I have started him on that supplement. He has seemed to feel better recently.

Yeah, the teeth issue is a pretty big deal on the board. Please ask your new acu vet about Clindamycin pulse therapy, especially if you're not able to have his dental done soon. Gandalf's mouth is not very good either, but using the Clindamycin monthly has kept him from needing extractions, though he also gets a dental yearly.

 

[Lana & Yoyo]

Kelly wrote: "Wow sounds like you have found a great person to go to! It always frustrates me when things like that get missed for so long (like the enlarged liver)."

Sadly, more often it is the rule rather than the exception, I think.

Pamela wrote: "Besides an ultrasound, did she mention an x-ray too? It always amazes me when vets say that about their teeth.

No.. she did not mention an xray. Any idea how much an ultrasound costs? I figure his teeth were in much better condition 8 months ago and maybe a lot cheaper to deal with if they had been dealt with back then. The acupuncturist thinks he has a couple of cavities and one or two teeth so infected they will have to be pulled.

Although the acupuncturist said to discuss Capstar with my vet, I went ahead and ordered it. I did find it at Amazon -- Capstar 60 ct for Cat/Dog under 25 pounds for $201 -- if I could give him a bath every week with Natural Chemistry DeFlea Shampoo and spray him with Natural Chemistry Flea Control as a substitute for one dose, then I could make 60 tablets last 5 months or more. If I could get to the point of cutting them in half, that would really be great.

The acupuncturist said she included diabetes in the acupuncture treatment. She said there are also Chinese herbs for diabetes but she would prefer to wait awhile before adding those. There has been a significant drop in Yoyo's BG over the past week since I started manually removing fleas by flea-combing multiple times per day. I have reduced his insulin down to 1.25 units. Then today I got a nadir of 77 from a AMPS of 288 and I wondered if that could have been from the acupuncture treatment. His PMPS was 119 and I was afraid to shoot because I don't feel like I have a feel for what his blood sugar will do anymore.

The eye looks clear to me but there is discharge on his cheek. The acupuncturist asked me how long he had had that and I said several months. She said it was an infection. She didn't say what kind or how he might have acquired it. The crud from his eye is another thing I had mentioned to the vet a month or two ago.

Vicky wrote: "I wonder if he would benefit from Denamarin. It is Sam-E and milk thistle which are proven to help liver function. People even take it. Nutramax makes a version for cats"

I will check it out .

Vicky wrote: "Please ask your new acu vet about Clindamycin pulse therapy, especially if you're not able to have his dental done soon"

The acupuncturist is sending me back to the regular vet to get her recommendations carried out. I have an appointment for Tuesday. I will definitely ask about the Clindamycin. I am going to have spread out the costs here. I've just spent $236 for the acupuncturist, $200 for Capstar, I have a regular vet appt Tuesday and I revisit the acupuncturist June 9th. I will still have the ultrasound, the dental work, spraying my house and yard ... so thanks for letting me know about the Clindamycin.

Lana

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Geez, that's an awful lot for the acupuncturist! I had to take Gandalf in every week for the first month or 6 weeks, and now it's every other week. His treatments are $43, including the $3 charge for needle disposal....they basically are charging me for an office visit, because that's what it costs just to see a vet at our clinic.

Yes, she did what sounds like a very thorough exam, but his regular treatments should not be anywhere near that much. I don't remember what our acu vet charged for the initial consult, because that was over an hour of her taking history and evaluating him. Maybe that's what most of your charge was. But I still don't remember it being more than $100.

Just don't want to see anyone taken advantage of.

 

[pamela and tigger]

Pamela wrote: "Besides an ultrasound, did she mention an x-ray too? It always amazes me when vets say that about their teeth.

No.. she did not mention an xray. Any idea how much an ultrasound costs? I figure his teeth were in much better condition 8 months ago and maybe a lot cheaper to deal with if they had been dealt with back then. The acupuncturist thinks he has a couple of cavities and one or two teeth so infected they will have to be pulled.

Oh no Lana, you miss quoted/misunderstood me. I was referring to his liver diagnosis.

What I said:

"That is interesting that she changed her profession (of sorts). Good for her for catching the enlarged liver, which as I am sure you know, can be caused by a number of things. Besides an ultrasound, did she mention an x-ray too?"

Had nothing to do with his teeth! LOL

The eye looks clear to me but there is discharge on his cheek. The acupuncturist asked me how long he had had that and I said several months. She said it was an infection. She didn't say what kind or how he might have acquired it. The crud from his eye is another thing I had mentioned to the vet a month or two ago.

Could it just be an 'simple' URI (upper respiratory infection)? Adding L-Lisine could help but can't hurt.

 

[Lana & Yoyo]

Vicky wrote: " that's an awful lot for the acupuncturist!"

Examination/consultation -- $85.00
1st acupuncture treatment-- 100.00
herbal pills ------------------- 26.00

Subsequent acupuncture treatments will be $100.00.

My personal acupuncture treatments with the acupuncturist I go to for lower back pain charges $50.00 But then, she comes in, inserts the needles, then leaves and works with another patient while I am lying there with needles in me. The animal acupuncturist has to stay with the animal from beginning to end.

Wish it was just $43. I stopped searching when I found the one I went to, so I don't really know the going rate in Houston.

Pamela wrote: Oh no Lana, you miss quoted/misunderstood me. I was referring to his liver diagnosis. "

No.... I did not think you were referring to his teeth ... was just being lazy in quoting. However I did not realize you were referring to his liver, either. I thought you were talking about his heart, that perhaps an xray might be just as good as an ultrasound to detect any problems.

Pamela wrote about eye discharge: Could it just be an 'simple' URI (upper respiratory infection

I hope so. I hope the other problems are not severe either. She asked me if Yoyo could jump on things. He can't. He can't get on the bed anymore without something intermediate to hop on to. I thought it was a normal aging thing. Guess not because that is when she started listening to his heart.

Lana

 

[Vicky & Gandalf (GA) & Murrlin]

Oh dear. I hope I didn't upset you by telling you how much Gandalf's acu treatments are. $100 seems like an awful lot to me.

I guess everything's bigger in Texas, though, isn't it? She sounds very competent so if it helps Yoyo, it will be worth it!

 

[Lana & Yoyo]

Vicky wrote: "Oh dear. I hope I didn't upset you by telling you how much Gandalf's acu treatments are. $100 seems like an awful lot to me. "

No No! I need to know comparison prices. When I talked to the receptionist, I told her I thought that was pretty steep. I asked her how many treatments it might take. She said probably three. Then he would need followup treatments twice per year thereafter. Later I looked at the website and it says most problems take 3 to 10 treatments to resolve. Hopefully it is allergies that take the fewest treatments.

Lana

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

I certainly sympathize on the money front. What we won't do for these guys.

It does sound like getting the house and yard fumigated will help overall. You may need to do the yard yearly, but there might me something you can apply yourself each spring (I have no idea if that is true or not!). My aunt had a flea infestation in her house and her cats don't even go outside. I was sitting with her male cat on my lap and saw a flea, then another. And another. I asked her to get her flea comb and combed him, OMG! there were dozens. I checked her female cat and she was crawling with them too. Then my aunt said, "Maybe that's why I have all these bites on my back..." Oy. How could she not notice? She had the house fumigated and the cats flea bathed by the vet. Turned out that she had some animal living in her chimney and the fleas were dropping down into the health and hopping out into the carpet. She had the chimney cleaned and a cap (screen) put over the top of it. The good news is that there have been no problems since then.

As for the heart (possible) problem, you have my sympathy there as well. The US will help with that diagnosis too and may be more why she recommended it than for the enlarged liver. Chronic inflammation can cause fluid buildup around the heart which makes it work harder and enlarge. If that is the case, treating the inflammation and reducing the fluid build up will help a lot (and are necessary). There are meds that can be given to help "strengthen" the heart action. Beau has been on one since he was 3 (he is almost 13). He had so much fluid around his heart that he was panting on any slight exertion and could not jump up on things. In fact, that was what made me take him to the vet. His appetite was down for a few days and he wasn't getting on the bed at night. I watched him try to jump to a low windowsill and miss. He had a bad case of pancreatitis, probably chronic low-grade that flared, and an enlarged heart with a murmur. He had an US (after an xray showed the enlargement) and then US-guided needle aspiration of fluid from his chest and abdomen. He was put on diltiazem (calcium channel blocker) for his heart, lasix for the fluids, and prednisone for the inflammation. The lasix was phased out in a few weeks, but he was on pred for over 2-1/2 years. We did try to ween him off it in 6 months but his p-titis flared again. He will be on the diltiazem for the rest of his life. At the time of his dx, the vet said with his heart condition his life expectancy was 2-5 years. He is at 9+ years and counting, so you just never know.

Paws crossed that there is no major heart issue to deal with and it is just the allergies and general stress that and the diabetes is causing him that is stressing his heart a little and it will resolve once those things are under control.

 

[pamela and tigger]

Lana, how did it go at the vets? I hope you got some answers.

Sheila, OMGosh, that is some story about your Aunt's flea infestation. I wonder what kind of animal was in her chimney?

 

[Sheila & Beau GA & Jeddie GA]

I think it was a squirrel. Or maybe a raccoon.